Fluid dispensing attachment for dental engines



p 16, 1957 R. E. CUNNINGHAM 2,788,577

FLUID DISPENSING ATTACHMENT FOR DENTAL ENGINES Filed March 28, 1955 INVENTOR 32g. 4.. r T

ROBERT E. cuumusnm I ATTORNEYS United States atent l'j 2,788,577 DISPENSING ATTACHMENT FOR DENTAL ENGINES Robert E. Cunningham, Jackson, Miss. Application March 28', 1955, Serial No. 497,089 3 Claims; (Cl. 32-28) This invention relates to a fluid dispensing attachment for dental engines, 'andmore particularly to a device which may be attached tothe' handpiece of a dental engine for dispensing. a fluid, suchas air or water, into the patients mouth. i i This application is. a continuation-impart of my co-- pending application entitled Fluid- Dispensing Attachment'. for Dental. Engines, Serial No. 405,096., filed January 20, 1954. i

In drilling. teeth, the discomfort of the patient can be greatly. alleviated by; directing; the, said fluid, such as'air or water, into the region where; the drilling is being performed. Furthermore, the delivery of. fluid to the drilling zone. also facilitates the drilling operation since the dentist. does: not have to. stop to flush out: the cavitybeing drilled in order to observe the progress; oftheldrilling operation. Air or water attachments on dental engines are. also useful in connection with other types of dentaltwork, such as cleaning teeth, for example.

There is disclosed in: my saidcopending, application Serial No. 405,096. an attachment for a dental engine for delivering fluid, such. as air on water, to the, patients mouth in. the region where dental worlt. is being: performed, In the. construction disclosed in this copending application, the; fluid-carrying tubular member is mounted, onthe handpiece carried by the. dental. engine and extends into. theregion adjacent the drilling tool. The fluid-carrying tube, is, slidably. movable to perform a valving operation: and thus. controls: the flow of fluid from, the outlet. end.- at the tube and into the patients mouth.

While the. fluid: dispensing attachment of thisprior application: is ver-ysatisfactory andlrepresents; a substantial improvement, over, the; prior art, the inventionv of the present. application has the; further advantage that movement. which is impartedito the. fluicbcarrying-1 tube in connection, with. the valvingt operation; doesnot change: the position of the outlet of, the tube relative to the. tool carried by the handpiece oi the dental engine.

Accordingly, itis an object of this invention toprovide afluid-carryi-ng attachment for dental engines; in which the outlet of, thefluid-carrying tube or conduit remains fixed: with respect to the handpiece of the dental, engine but. in which the fluid-carrying. tube is movable to regulate the. fluid fiQW' through the. tube;

It, is a still further object of this invention to provide unimp oved nozzle for use in a fluid dispensing attachmer t;v of a dental; engine.

In achievement of these. objectives, thisinventioni provides. amair and. water attachment for a. dental engine in. which the fluid-carrying tube or. conduit is anchored to 21v point adjacent the outer end-of the handpiece so that the outlet end of; the fluid-carrying tube remains in a. fixed-bomhonmelative to thetool. carried. by the handpiece. The fluid-carrying tube incorporates a part of the valve; operating systemv whichv controls. the fluid. flow and is.- slidably movable to elfect. the. opening or closing of carrying tube to efiect the valving operation without 2; causing any movement of the outlet end of; the tube relative to the tool carried by the handpiece of the dental engine.

As a further. feature ot the construction, there is: provided a nozzle member for attachment to the fluid-carrying tube which includes: a closed pocket defining an air chamber which serves. to improve the fluid dispensing characteristics. of the nozzle.

The. invention, both; as to its organization and use, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may: best be. understood by reference tothe following description taken in conjunction withthe: accompanying drawing in which: i

Fig. l is a side elevation view of adental handpiece which includes the fluid. dispensing attachment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is" an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sec tional' view oi the valve operating mechanism which controls fluid flow through the tube;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional viewillustrating the details of the outlet nozzle assembly ofthe fluid dispensingattachment; and:

Fig.4 is an enlarged fragment'ary sectional viewalong line i -40f Fig. 1

Referring now tothe drawing, there is shown a dental handpiece gener ally indicated at 10 supported by a bracket member 12 carried by hinged arms 14' and 16 of a dental engine. At the outer end of handpiece 10, a dental tool 18 is supported forrotation.

Supported upon the outer surface of handpiece 10 is the fluid dispensing attachment generally indicated at. 20. The fluid dispensing attachment 20 in'cludcs a valve housing generally indicated at 22 which is rigidly secured to the outer surface ofthe. upper end of handpiece 10 by a ring. member24 which is rigidly secured, as by soldering, to the surface of valve housing 22.

As will best be seen intlie. View of Fig. 2, valve housing 22 includes a, main. body portion 26' which contains a hollow valve chamber 28 and a body portion 30 of reduced outer diameter having. an. axial passage 32 which extends from the end of body portion 30 into communication with hollow chamber 28. Valve housing 22 is provided" at its outer end' with. a cap member 34. which is in. screw-threaded engagement with. the outer end. of mainbody portion 26 of the valve. housing. Valve cap 34 is provided with. a fluidinlet. 36 which communicates with hollow chamber 28; Afiexible tubular conduit 38 is con nected. to inlet end 36. oi the valve housing, The opposite end of. conduit 38. is. connected" to a. manually controlled shut-off valve40 supported. by arm 16: of the dental. engine. i

The lowerv end of valve, body portion 39 is provided with a screw-threaded neck; 42 of reduced diameter engaging. an elongated. tubular sleeve. member 44' which serves as a guide and a bearing for a slidable fluidcarrying tube 46, The. endof guide sleeve 44 which engages threaded neck portion. 42 may be provided with a packing. in the space 48. toprevent leakage from the valve housing 22 of any fluid which may get: between theouter surface of, slidabletube46 and the inner. surface of axial passage32- Guide sleeve 44-extends for a substantial portion ofthe length of handpiece 10 but terminates at a point spaced approximately one-third the. length. of the handpiecefrom' the end of the hand-piece. The lower end of sleeve. 44, has approximately degrees of its surface. cut away for a. short distance as indicated at 50 in Fig, l, the. remaining,surfaceportion-cflthe guide sleeve in the cut-away region resting on the surface of handpiece 10' and serving. as a bearingfor a slidable actuating ring 52 which is rigidly secured to the slidable tube 46 in the region of the cutaway portion 50 of guide sleeve 44.

' 76 into the mouth of the patient,

Fluid-carrying tube 46 is a rigid tubular member which 32 of valve housing 22, and into valve chamber 28. Tube 46 carries at its end which is disposed in valve chamber 28 a valve head 54 which carries a gasket-like sealing means 56 on its surface which is disposed toward axial passage 32. A spring 58 is seated on the outer surface of valve head 54, the opposite end of spring 58 engaging the inner surface of valve cap 34. Spring 58 serves to normally bias tube 46 toward the left with respect to the view shown in Fig. 2 so that valve head 54 is normally seated on the end wall of chamber 28 in the position shown in dotted outline in Fig. 2.

Fluid-carrying tube 46 is provided adjacent but spaced from valve head 54 with one or more fluid inlet slots or openings 60. In the normal spring-biased position of tube 46, inlet slots 60 assume the dotted outline position shown in Fig. 2 along the axial passage 32 of the valve housing and are therefore out of communication with chamber 28. In this position of tube 46, no fluid is admitted to the tube through inlet slots 60. However, when tube 46 is manually pushed to the position shown in full line in Fig. 2 in which valve head 54 is moved away from its seat, fluid inlet slots 60 extend into chamber 28 and permit fluid which has entered the chamber 28 through inlet 36 to pass into openings 60 of the tube 46.

The construction thus far described is substantially in accordance with the disclosure of my prior patent application Serial No. 405,096. However, instead of having the rigid slidable fluid-carrying tube 46 extend to the region of tool 18, as in the case of my previous application, I modify the previous construction by interposing an elastic fluid-carrying conduit portion 62 between the end of tube 46 and the outlet nozzle assembly generally indicated at 64. This permits nozzle assembly 64 to be rigidly fixed to housing 66 for the tool 18 which is disposed at the outer end of handpiece l0. Elastic conduit portion 62 may be made of rubber or other elastic material which may be elongated by the application of tension and having the characteristic of returning to its original dimension after the release of tension.

Nozzle assembly 64 is suitably anchored by means of band member 68 to tool housing 66. As will best be seen in the enlarged fragmentary view of Fig. 3, nozzle assembly 64 includes a tubular portion 70 which is open at its outer end and connected at that end to elastic conduit portion 62. Tubular portion 70 is connected to a Second tubular portion 72 at substantially the mid-point of the length of tubular portion 72 and at substantially right-angles thereto. Tubular portion 72 is closed at one end as indicated at 74 and is provided at its outer end disposed toward tool 18 with a nozzle tip 76 through which the fluid being dispensed passes to the patients mouth. The closed end '74 provides an air pocket 78 in the tubular portion '72 between the inlet connection of tubular portion 70 and the closed end 74 of tubular portion 72. Air pocket 78 provides a mixing chamber in which air and water may mix to produce a more perfect spray at nozzle tip 76.

Biasing spring 58 in valve chamber 28 may be eliminated if desired, since elastic conduit portion 62 biases valve head 54 to seated position; or, alternatively, a relatively weak spring 58 may be used.

In operating the fluid dispensing dental attachment hereinbefore described, the operator grasps ring 52 attached to rigid slidable tube 46 and moves the ring and the attached tube 46 in the direction of valve housing 22. This causes valve head 54, which had been previously biased into valve closing position by spring 58, to move from its valve seat to permit slots 60 to move into communication with the interior of valve chamber 28. This perimts fliud in valve chamber 28 to pass through slots 60 and into tubular conduits 46, 62 and thence to nozzle assembly 64 Where the fluid passes through nozzle tip Although the nozzle assembly 64 remains anchored to the tool housing 66 at the end of hand tool 10, sliding movement of fluid-carrying tube 46 is permitted due to the interposed elastic fluid-carrying conduit portion 62. As soon as the operator releases manual pressure on ring 52, the elasticity of tubular fluid-carrying section 62, assisted by the biasing action of spring 58 in valve housing 22, returns slidable tube 46 to a position in which valve head 54 is in its dotted-outline seated position as shown in Fig. 2.

It can be seen from the foregoing that there is provided in accordance with this invention a fluid dispensing attachment for dental engines which is an improvement over the construction shown in my prior patent application Serial No. 405,096 in that the fluid outlet of the dental attachment remains in a fixed position with respect to the tool carried by the handpiece despite the sliding movements imparted to the fluid-carrying tube to control the flow of fluid through the tube.

While there has been shown and described a particular embodiment of the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein wtihout departing from the invention and, therefore, it is aimed to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A fluid dispensing attachment for a dental engine comprising a fluid-carrying conduit having an outlet and an inlet, said conduit including a rigid conduit portion and an elastic conduit portion connected in series with each other between the outlet and inlet ends of said conduit, the outlet of said conduit being adapted to be fixedly positioned on the dental engine, the portion of said conduit extending between said fixed outlet and said inlet being slidably movable, and a valve means carried by said slidably movable conduit portion.

2. A fluid dispensing attachment for a dental engine comprising a fluid-carrying conduit having a fluid dispensing outlet and a fluid inlet, means connecting the inlet of said conduit to a source of fluid supply, a nozzle anchored to said dental engine, the outlet end of said conduit being fixedly connected to said nozzle, said conduit including a rigid conduit portion and an elastic conduit portion connected in series with each other between said outlet and inlet ends of said conduit, the portion of said conduit extending between said fixed outlet and said inlet being movable to control fluid flow through said conduit, and said nozzle including an inlet connected to said conduit, a nozzle outlet in communication with said nozzle inlet, and a closed air chamber communicating with said nozzle inlet and said nozzle outlet.

3. A fluid dispensing attachment for a dental engine comprising a fluid-carrying conduit having a fluid dispensing outlet and a fluid inlet, means connecting the inlet of said conduit to a source of fluid supply, a nozzle anchored to saiddental engine, the outlet end of said conduit being fixedly connected to said nozzle, said conduit including a rigid conduit portion and an elastic conduit portion connected in series with each other between said outlet and inlet ends of said conduit, the portion of said conduit extending between said fixed outlet and said inlet being movable to control fluid flow through the conduit,

1 and said nozzle including a first tubular portion closed References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS lage May 1, 1951 Ikse Dec. 14, 1954 

